Toy machine gun



Nov. 12, 1940'. R. G. KNABE TOY MACHINE GUN 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 30, 1938 k wk w i 2 R. G. KNABE TOY MACHINE GUN Nov; 12, 1940.

Filed June 30, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 12, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT 1 OFFICE;

2,221,240 TOY MACHINE GUN Robert GeorgeKnabe, Tucson, Ariz. Application June so, 1938, Serial No. 216,797

5 Claims.

The invention relates generally to toys and primarily seeks to provide a novel toy machine gun, simple in construction and operation and capable of being manufactured in great numbers at small cost.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a toy gun of the character stated which is spring actuated, trigger controlled, and capable of firing projectiles one at a time, in multiple bursts, or continuously atthe rate of about 500 per minute.

Another object of the invention is to provide a toy gun of the character stated which includes a novel tripod on which the gun is mounted in a manner permitting it to be readily swung about vertical and horizontal axes for directing the firing of projectiles therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide,in a gun of the character stated, a novel firing chamber, magazine clip support, and magazine clip combination effective to facilitate mounting of the clip and the feeding of projectiles into the firing chamber.

v Another object of the invention is to provide a novel spring means for effecting the firing 'or ejection of the projectiles. I

Another object'of the invention is to provide a novel spring motor actuated star wheel equipment for actuating the firing spring.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel trigger released brake equipment for controlling operation of the springrnotor and star wheel.

Another object of the invention is toprovide a novel stop means effective to assure a definite positioning of the star wheel efiective to enable the attainment of momentum in the star wheel and its driving connections prior to each projectilefiring operation.

Another object of the invention isto provide a novel magazine clip structure including a cover portion removable for facilitating loading of pro jectiles thereinto, and which includes spring held means normally effective to retain projectiles in the clip and automatically'displaceable upon'insertion of the clip into the gun for freeing the projectiles and permitting them to gravitate into the firing chamber of the gun. v

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel holder for releasably holding a plurality of magazine clips.

With these and other objects in View which will more fully appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by following the description, the appended claims, and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings: I i Figure 1 is a left side elevation of the gun.

Figure'2 is a rear elevation.

Figure 3-is a right side elevation.

. Figure-4 is an enlarged detail vertical cross section taken on the line 44 on Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a detail vertical longitudinal section taken on the line 5-'5 on Figure 4.-

Figure 6 is a fragmentary detail section similar to Figure 5, the firing spring having been-moved to the projectile end releasing position and just about to be released for effecting a fir ng of a projectile.

Figure 7 is a detailvertical longitudinal section taken on the lines 'l'| on Figure 8.

. Figure 8 is a detail horizontal section taken on the line 8 -8 on Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section taken substantially on the line 9-9'on Figure 8 and illustrating the notched disc and brake cooperation.

Figure 10 is a detail perspective View of the delivery end of one of the projectile magazine clips.

Figure 11 is a fragmentary vertical cross section taken on the line ll-ll on Figure 2.

Figure 12 is a detail side elevation illustrating a plurality of magazine clips assembled. in a holder, parts being broken away andin section.

Figure 13' is a detail perspective view illustrat-' ing the magazine clip holder shown. in Figure 12.

The improved toy machine gun includes a body portion generally designated 5 and which houses the operating and controlling devices of the gun, a base generally designated 6 and upon which the body is mounted for movement about vertical and horizontal axes for the purpose of aiming and firing the gun with facility, and a barrel andprojectile feeding equipment generally designated 1.

The body 5 includes a U-shaped sheet metal 7 body plate 8, and the side opening formed beof the drawings that the housing has attached thereto a bracket providing ears H depending from the bottom of the housing and terminating in angularly disposed faces [2. The ears II are pivoted as at l3 to the upturned ears of a U- shaped bracket l4 projecting upwardly from a turntable [5 which is horizontally rotatable about a pivot l6 secured to the supporting plate I1 from which the supporting legs l8 depend. It will be noted that the legs I8 arewidely spread so as to provide a stable support for the gun, and by reason of the provision of the bracket members I l and I4 and the pivots l3 and I6, the housing can be swung up and down about a horizontal axis and may also be swung in a horizontal direction about the vertical aXis provided by the pivot IS. A leaf spring member l9 projecting upwardly from the turntable l5 engages the angularly disposed surfaces l2 of the ears H for the purpose of normally holding the body in the horizontal position shown in Figure 7 of the drawings and for returning the body to that position from any position to which it his been tilted during the firing of the gun.

A cross shaft 20 is rotatably supported in the body plates 8 and 9, and a power source providing main spring 2| is coiled about this shaft and anchored, as at 22, to the housing A large gear 23 is loosely mounted on the shaft 20 and meshes with a small pinion 24 secured upon a cross shaft 25 rotatably supported in the housing plates 8 and 9 in parallel spaced relation to the shaft 20. The shaft 25 also carries a large gear 26 which meshes with a small pinion 21 secured upon a cross shaft 28 which likewise carries a large pinion 29 enmeshed with a small pinion 30 secured upon another cross shaft-3|. Both shafts 28 and 3| are rotatably supported in the housing plates 8 and 9 and disposed in parallel spaced relation with each other and with the shafts 20 and 25 previously referred to.

A star wheel 32 is secured upon the shaft 25 externally of the housing, and the star wheel is constructed to present six equidistantly spaced and radially disposed firing spring actuating teeth, as shown in Figures 1 and 9 of the drawings. The end of the shaft 25 to which the star wheel is affixed also carries a winged nut 33 the purpose of'which will later become apparent, and within the housing this shaft also carries a stop disc 34 provided in its periphery with equidistantly spaced stop notches 35 which .are equal in number with the teeth projecting radially from the star wheel 32.

A brake disc 36 is secured upon the shaft 3| in position for beingengaged'at times, by a friction brake shoe 31 supported on a yieldable arm" 38 anchored as at 39 on the housing and equipped with a stop finger 40 projected there from in a direction for engaging the periphery of the disc 34 in the manner shown in Figures 8 and 9 of the drawings. The arm 38 also carries a finger 4i positioned to overlie one free end 42 of the trigger 43 which ispivoted intermediate its ends to the housing as at 44. See Figures '7, 8 and 9.

It will be observed by reference to Figure 9 of the drawings that the finger 40 carried by the yieldable arm 38 is of such length that when it is in engagement with the periphery of the disc 34 it will serve to hold the brake shoe 31 out of contact with the brake 36, but whenever the disc engaging end of the finger 40 encounters and moves into one of the disc notches 35, the spring arm 38 will move the brake shoe into engagement with the brake disc 36 as shown in Figure 7 of the drawings.

The barrel and projectile feeding equipment generally designated 1 includes a sheet metal base plate 45 bent back upon itself as at 46 at the front to for-m a reinforce plate portion 41, and bent back upon itself at one side as at 48 to form a thickened body portion 49, and thence upwardly as at 50. The upwardly turned portion of the base plate is twice reversely bent upon itself as at 5| to form a reinforce body portion and is extended upwardly and laterally to form a magazine clip receptacle 52, the lateral edges of the receptacle forming portion being bent as at 53 to provide retainer walls. The receptacle forming wall portions are bent as at 54 at their upper ends to provide flared receiving portions to facilitate insertion of the magazine clips, as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings.

At its other side the plate 45 is bent upwardly and inwardly as at 55 to present an end portion 56 overlying the receptacle 52 for a purpose that will later become apparent.

Side members 51 are soldered or otherwise secured upon the plate 45 in the position illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawings, and at their upper ends these members are bent inwardly upon themselves to provide reinforce side walls 58 terminating at their lower ends in abutment ledges 59, one said reinforce wall portion being bent "laterally upwardly as at 63 to register with and form a continuation of the reinforce body portion 51 of the receptacle 52, as shown in Figure 4. One of the members 51 has its ends bent laterally as at 6| to provide firing chamber defining end walls, as shown in Figure 5 of the drawings.

A cylinder barrel 62 has the upper half of its inner extremity cut away as at 63, and the upper edges thus formed abut the edges 59 previously referred to and cooperate with the side walls 58 in forming a projectile receiving or firing chamber disposed at the entrance into the cylinder barrel 62 as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings. The barrel 62 may be soldered or otherwise secured upon the plate 45 in the position stated.

The composite base portion 45, 41 is secured to the housing by bolts 64, as-shown in Figures 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings.

The rear edge portion of the body 49 is turned upwardly to form a mounting ear '65 to which a clamp loop 66 is removably secured as at 61, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. A firing spring 68 is secured at one end in the loop 66 and has its free end 69 extended into the firing chamber, as shown in Figures 2, 5.and 6 of the drawings, through a recess 10 formed at the rear end of the firing chamber. When the gun is loaded, the projectiles 1| rest at one end upon the free end 69 of the spring in the manner illustrated in Figure 5,

and each time the spring end is retracted by the star wheel for. firing purposes, as shown in Figure 6 ofthedrawings, it will remove its support from the projectiles and permit the lowermost one thereof to fall into the firing chamber in alinement with the barrel 62 as shown in Figure 6 of the drawings; so that when the spring end is released, by movement of the star wheel in the direction indicated by the dotted arrow in Figure 6, said spring end will forcibly engage and project the projectile through and from said barrel.

In the loading of the gun a projectile carrying magazine clip is inserted in the magazine receptacle, as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings. Each magazine clip includes a sheet metal body having a base 12 and sides 13 and is closed at one end as at 14 and open at its other end. A lid 15 is hinged as at 16 to the closed end 14 and extends over and closes the upper portion of the magazine clip, said lid being yieldably held in closed position by a side clip 11 engageable with a detent projecting from the adjacent side wall portion'as shown in Figures 2 and 11 of the drawings. l The 'lid 15 of each magazine clip includes stop members '18 projecting from the end edge por- 5 tions thereof and a similarly extended center stop portion '19. The stop equipped end of each lid also is equipped with a pair of bearing lugs vllll which pivotally support forked rod 8| which is normally held in a position traversing the open 10 end of the magazine clip by a coil spring 82, thus serving to yieldably retain the projectiles in the clip, as shown in Figure 10 of the drawings. Each forked rod 81 includes an upwardly extending crank portion 83v so positioned that when a magazine clip is inserted into the gun receptacle 52 it will engage the overlying end portion 56 and be moved thereby, against the tension of the spring 82, to a position for automatically releasing the projectiles H and permit them to gravitate into the firing chamber as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings.

With the gun thus loaded and the projectiles resting upon thefree end 69 of the firing spring, asshown in Figure 5, the winding key 84 is manipulated to impart rotation to the shaft 20 and store tension in the main spring 2|. As previously stated the-gear 23 is loosely mounted on the shaft. The inner end of the spring 2! is secured to the shaft, and the shaft and gear are equipped with the usual ratchet and pawl equipment 85 so that rotation of the-key and shaft will store energy in the spring in the usual man-. ner. At this time the parts will be in the at rest position illustrated in Figure 7 of the drawings, the finger 48 being seated in one of the disc notches 35,. and the brake shoe 31 being applied to the stop disc 36 so as to hold the train of gears stationary against the urge of the energy stored in the spring it. By pressing the lower free end 4 of the trigger 43 the spring arm 38can be moved outwardly so as to release the brake shoe 3'! and the finger so as to permit rotation of the disc 39 and the shaft 3|, pinion 30, gear 29, shaft 28, pinion 21, gear 26, shaft 25, pinion 24, and 45 ear 23 by which rotation is imparted to that disc through the means of the energy stored in the spring 2| and now released. By reason of the train of power transmitting connections just described, a steady, controlled rotation is imparted to the shaft 25 and the star Wheel 32 mounted thereon so that the star wheel is rotated smoothly and uniformly. Each time a tooth of the star wheel engages the firing spring end it will move it from the position illustrated in Figure 5 of the drawings to the position illustrated in Figure 6, storing energy in it all the while, and at that point will release the spring and cause it to snap inwardly into engagement with the lowermost projectile for forcibly'pro- 'jecting it through and from the barrel 62. The trigger 43 can be manipulated so as to provide only one actuation of the firing spring for ejectmg one projectile only, it can be manipulated for effecting a definite number of ejections so as to provide a burst of shots, or it can be held in position for releasing the brake so as to permit continuous rotation of the star wheel and a continuous, rapid firing of the projectiles.

It may sometimes happen that the energy stored in the spring 2| may become spent during the firing of the gun, so as to leave one tooth of the star wheel in engagement with the firing spring, because of the controlled resistance set up by the train of movement transmitting connections, the resistance dueto engagement of this tooth: with the spring might be suificient to prevent initiation offiring after winding of the spring has been completed. In order to avoid such a condition the winged nut 33 isprovided, and before each winding of the spring it is desir- 5 able to manipulate this nut to first permit the finger-40 to 'move into one of the disc notches 35 soas to definitely position the star wheel teeth and apply the brake. The partsare so cooper-v atively positioned, that when this is accomo plished one of the star wheel teeth will be positioned a considerable distance away from the firing spring so that when the trigger is manipulated to effect a firing of the gun suitable momentum will be built up in the star wheel and 15 the train of power transmitting connections to assureproper firing of the mechanism. The movement of the winged nut 33, for the purpose of definitely setting the star wheel 32, can be effected in either direction, but when the set- 20 ting mechanism is in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 6 of the drawings, this movementof the nut 33 will not only serve to position the star wheel but also to complete the storing of energy in and the releasing of the firing 25 spring 68 so as to eject the projectile in position in the firing chamber and to re-position the free end 69 of the spring in the normal position shown in Figure 5.

The energy which can be stored in the spring 30 2| is sufficient for the firing of a plurality of magazine clips such as are shown in place in Figure. 4 of the drawings, and in order that a suitable plurality of'such clips can be convenientlymaintainedin assembled relation against inadvertent delivery of the projectiles from the open end of the clips, a holder device has been devised and is disclosed in detail in Figures 12 and 13 of the drawings. Tests having shown that the spring is capable of effecting the firing of at 40 least as many projectiles as can be contained in four magazine clips, the holder disclosed in Figures 12 and. 13 has been proportioned to accommodate four shchclips, The holder is constructed to comprise a bottom 86, side walls 81 and a 45 cover 88 which is hinged as at 89 to one side wall and is equipped at its free edge 90 with a spring clip engageable with a detent 9| formed on the adjacent side wall portion for yieldably retaining the cover 88 in the position shown in Figures 12 50 and 13. The front edges of the side walls are angularly disposed as at 92 so as to provide an opening for the front ends of the clips which recedes upwardly and rearwardly as shown in Figures 12 and 13. The cover 88 terminates for- 55 wardly in an upturned edge 93 and the bottom 86 terminates forwardly in a similarly turned edge 94. When four magazine clips are inserted into the holder as shown in Figure 12; they will project in staggered relation therefrom with the o stop portions 18 of the lowermost clip engaging the lower holder flange 94 and the center stop portion 19 of each of the other clips engaging the upwardly turned crank projection 83 of the underlying clip. It will be noted that'the flange 55 93 of the cover engages the crank portion 83 of the uppermost clip and in this manner means is provided on the holder for engaging the forked rod equipment 81 of each magazine clip and positively holding the same against inadvertent 7 movement such as would permit the projectiles II to fall out of the magazine clips. It is preferred that the toy machine gun be constructed of sheet metal because of the advantages in the way of simplicity and low cost of manufacture, 7

but it is to be understood that the elements comprising the gun can be constructed'of any ma.- terials and can be variously modified without departing from the .spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

The projectiles H fired from the gunv may be formed of any suitable material but preferably comprise elongated cylindrical pellets of wood. It will be observed by reference to Figure 4 of the drawings that the firing chamber is vertically disposed and that the pellets are fed into the chamber over an inclined plane which merges with the firing chamber over a shoulder disposed parallel to the axis of the gun barrel as shown in Figures 4 and 5. By this manner of feeding the pellets into the firing chamber, proper alinement is insured and possibilities of the pellets turning askew and jamming in the feeding and firing chamber passages are avoided.

I claim:

1. In a toy machine gun, abarrel, a body having a firing chamber from which projectiles are projected through the barrel, firing spring means engageable individually with projectiles in the chamber for ejecting them successively through the barrel, means including a spring motor and a star wheel engageable with the spring means for actuating it to efiect projectile ejection, and means for effecting a definite positioning of the star wheel with respect to the firing spring means in order to assure attainment of momentum upon initiation of firing of the gun.

2. In a toy machine gun, a barrel, a body having a firing chamber from which projectiles are projected through the barrel, firing spring means engageable individually with projectiles in the chamber for ejecting them successively through the barrel, means including a spring motor and a star wheel engageable with the spring means for actuating it to effect projectile ejection, and

means for effecting a definite positioning of the star wheel with respect to the firing spring means in order to assure attainment of momentum upon initiation of firing of the gun, said last named means including a brake and a trigger release for said motor.

3. In a toy machine gun, a barrel, a body having a firing chamber from which projectiles are projected through the barrel, firing spring means engageable individually with projectiles in the chamber for ejecting them successively through the barrel, means including a spring motor and a star wheel engageable with the spring means for actuating it to effect projectile ejection, and means for effecting a definite positioning of the star wheel with respect to the firing spring means in order to assure attainment of momentum upon initiation of firing of the gun, said last named means including a brake and a trigger release for said motor and a notched disc and stop finger equipment effective to permit application of the brake at points only bearing definite relation to the star wheel and firing spring means.

4. The combination of a plurality of magazine clips for machine guns each comprising a body having sides, a bottom and an end and open at the top and one end, a lid covering the open top and hinged to said end, and yieldable means normally closing the open end against egress of projectiles contained within the clip, and a holder for removably receiving the plurality of clips, said holder and clips having interengaging means for holding said yieldable means against inadvertent displacement.

5. In a toy machine gun, a body including projectile feeding means and a barrel through which the projectiles are fired, a supporting base, a turntable rotatable about a vertical aixs on the base, means for supporting the body on the turntable for movement about a horizontal axis including a member upstanding from the turntable and a member depending from the body and pivotally connected to said upstanding member, one said member having a flat face portion, and a spring element engaging said face portion and efiective to yieldably hold the body in position for presenting the barrel horizontally.

ROBERT GEORGE KNABE. 

